The Beautiful Letdown
by joannacamilley
Summary: A beautiful letdown: something that happens for the greater good but still hurts nonetheless. Shane's beautiful letdown: the realization of how he was acting, brought on by Mitchie.


**You are about to enter an extremely fluffy zone. You have been warned. ;)**

**Disclaimer: No, I am not clever enough to make all those songs and dance moves in Camp Rock, so I don't own it, sadly. I don't even own The Beautiful Letdown.**

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**"It was a beautiful letdown, the day I knew that all the riches this world had to offer me would never do" The Beautiful Letdown - Switchfoot**

"Mitchie," I murmur, trying to be unheard by everyone but her. She looks up from the table, her doe eyes connecting with mine. I smile at her innocence, the pureness radiating off of her. I'm hoping that if I stay near enough, I won't become polluted again.

"I want to talk to you…in private," I add when she becomes confused. She looks around the table, deciding if she should come or not. This is her first Hollywood Records dinner party, which includes every artist signed under the label. Her eyes finally reach mine and she smiles, accepting my request. I warmly smile back as I slip my hand into hers. We stand up and quietly leave without attracting attention, thankfully.

I take her into an empty room just outside the ballroom. I sit down on the loveseat situated in the corner, feeling slightly nervous. Mitchie stays standing, watching me with a bit of concern. I patted the spot next to me with a small smile, trying to convince her everything was okay. She hesitantly sits down.

"Is everything okay?" Mitchie nervously asks me. I look into her eyes upon hearing the unease in her voice. I see apprehension and a bit of fear in her chocolate orbs.

"Mitchie, everything's fine, wonderful, even," I chuckle, hoping to calm her nerves. Her face relaxes and she moves closer to me, waiting for me to talk. I smile at her then look away.

"Ever since Camp Rock…I've been meaning to tell you," I quietly say. Mitchie's eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.

"Is something wrong, did you…do something?" Mitchie says, her voice a bit alarmed.

"No, no, no. I told you, everything's great, I just…want to tell you something." I look back into her eyes. There is still some apprehension in her eyes, even a bit distrust from the two false alarms I had given her, but they both disappear as soon as I widely smile and take her hands into mine.

"Mitchie, I just want to thank you," I say, gazing into her eyes.

"Shane, if this is about changing you again-" Mitchie starts, turning away a bit. I may have annoyed her by constantly thanking her about Camp Rock, but this is different…slightly.

"Just listen, trust me, you'll want to hear." I look down as I sort everything out in my head.

"Mitchie, the way you changed me, it was a beautiful letdown," I start, my eyes connecting with hers again.

"A beautiful letdown?" she questions me.

"It was good and, believe it or not, bad. But, no, Mitchie, you have to hear why," I quickly add on the ending as she looks away in hurt. "I was…as you say it, a jerk. I thought the world revolved around me and only me. I didn't have anyone I really cared about, I barely even cared about the band. I was selfish, rude, everything I promised myself I wouldn't be when Nate, Jase and I started Connect 3. I let the fame go to my head and nothing was ever enough. So, to that part of me, you were bad." I mentally berate myself at my wording as Mitchie looks away again.

"Shane…I don't know where you're going with this, but it's not sounding good," Mitchie says, shaking her head incredulously.

"I know, let me try again. You're not bad, it's just… Okay, forget I said that. Before, I thought I was the center of the universe. Then you came and brought me back to reality. I am forever thankful of that, and I owe you so much, but at the time, it was terrible. Back in the kitchen, remember that?"

"You knew that was me?" Mitchie says, her eyes wide when she looks back at me.

I smile. "Of course. Who else would be brave enough to knock me back into my place?" Mitchie giggles and looks away again, this time not because she's upset. "You made me realize that I was treating people terribly, like they were all servants of lower status or something. It was like you were a bit of light, lighting up the darkness in my head. You warmed my cold heart. But when you confronted me, I'm not going to lie, it hurt. Bad. Because I became exactly what I hated. I realized how despicable I was, and I hated myself for it. I abused my social status for so long, hurting people with every snide remark I made. It tore me apart. I had let myself down, let the whole world down, let you down." My voice is down to a low whisper as I look down, away from Mitchie's face.

"Shane." Mitchie mutters, her voice on the verge of breaking as she pulls me into her arms. I let a few tears fall before I pull back.

"But that's not all," I say as I wipe my eyes. "Not only was it a letdown, but it was a beautiful one. However mad I was at myself, I was more happy and thankful than anything. I had seen the light, and the light was you. You made the letdown beautiful," I murmur, leaning in closer to Mitchie. She is smiling while tears are falling down her face, touched by my words.

I reach out and cradle her face in my hands, my lips inches from hers. I can feel her shallow breaths fanning out on my face. I move so that our lips are just touching, not able to pass for a real kiss.

"I have something to tell you," I mumble, my lips lightly brushing against hers, causing her to shiver.

"Hmm?" she breaths out, her eyes half closed. I can taste her breath upon my lips.

"I love you," I whisper as I crash my lips on hers. Her eyes widen considerably as she processes what I just said, but they close when I move my lips against hers. She doesn't respond much at first, but it's like heaven once she does. Our lips move slowly and synchronized, like we were made for each other. I smile as I realize we were, effectively breaking the kiss. Mitchie slowly pulls back, her eyes still closed.

"Shane?" she whispers, her voice breathless.

"Yes?" I say, also out of breath from that amazing kiss.

"I love you, too," she says softly into my shoulder as I pull her into a side hug. I grin and kiss the top of her head.

"Thanks for the beautiful letdown."

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**Just so you know, this is the first time they said 'I love you' to each other. I'd say it's about 3-4 months after Camp Rock.**

**Hope you liked it! I am in no way a fluff writer, I'm more into angst. I like to read fluff, though, so that's where I got the fluffy idea from. Also, I am totally inexperienced in kissing, *cough cough*, so I had to remember how other people wrote scenes like this. **

**This was my interpretation of what a beautiful letdown means and is in no way the correct definition. I really don't know what it means. ;)**

**Please review!**


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